Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has announced that they will be partnering with Hermès to create new watch bands for the Apple Watch. There will be three different bands which will consist of a standard leather band, a double band, and a cuff. The bands will reportedly be hand stitched but there is no word yet on how much they will cost.

Apple has been attempting to make its way into the fashion industry since the announcement of the Apple Watch with photo shoots fit for Vogue (photo below) and having model like Christy Turlington Burns run with the Apple Watch, Tweet about it, and even speak about her experience with the watch at its event.

Photo by: David Sims

Apple is making its mark in the fashion industry and it’s not stopping here. Not to mention, the Apple Watch is actually a pretty good-looking watch and as smart watches advance they will start to become a bigger part of the industry because they have to. Smart watches need to move beyond simply being a cool gadget to being something that blends seamlessly with your outfit if they even want to think about sharing space with standard mechanical watches.

Apple is also unveiled new watch band colors for the Sport and standard edition of the Apple Watch which further help them integrate the watch into the fashion industry. It’s also good news for anyone who cares about what kind of accessories they’re wearing. Just switching the band from one color two another can change the look and feel of an outfit. Similar to the way that deciding to what shoes to wear or whether to wear white or yellow gold jewelry can change the look of your outfit. This holds true not only for the Apple Watch but for mechanical watches as well.

Additionally, working with Hermès is going to help not only the Apple Watch cement its spot among mechanical watches, but other smart watches. It will set the bar higher for other companies to make their smart watches look good instead of looking like a giant wrist computer plastered on your wrist. Especially since they went with a company like Hermès, whose ever so popular and highly coveted Birkin can be priced at over $100,000. Whether the Hermès Apple Watch bands will be so popular is unknown, but as soon as more information comes through, we’ll let you know.

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